


just the two of us

by uchiuchi



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Pillow & Blanket Forts, Pillow Fights, Tokyo (City), haru is a little stressed and makoto makes him feel better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-22
Updated: 2015-11-22
Packaged: 2018-05-02 22:14:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5265638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uchiuchi/pseuds/uchiuchi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Haruka scrambles to his feet and holds the pillow up defensively. “All’s fair in love and war.”</p><p>Makoto shakes his head and snaps his own pillow between his hands. “You’re gonna get it now, Haru.”</p><p>“Come at me, big boy.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	just the two of us

Sunlight streams in through the window of Haruka’s bathroom. Annoyed at the intrusion, he ducks his head underwater and resolves to stay there until Makoto comes to pick him up. That is until, five minutes later, he remembers that Makoto _isn’t_ going to come.

He blows some bubbles into the water out of frustration before coming back up for air.

Right.

Tokyo.

He still isn’t used to living here.

Then again, it’s only been one week, but Haruka, although thrilled about his new path in life, although excited to finally pursue swimming as a career, doesn’t like the sudden change in lifestyle. He’s never liked change, not when Makoto had once offered up his left glove instead of his right, and certainly not now.

The birds chirping outside remind him that he has somewhere to be. A huff and two more gurgles later, Haru hoists himself out of the bath, puts on fresh clothing, and leaves for university, forgetting to lock the door behind him.

 

 

“Name?” 

“Haru.”

“Full name?”

“Nanase Haruka.”

“Nanase Haruka,” the man -- no, the _coach_ \-- in front of him murmurs, writing something on the clipboard he’s holding. “Front crawl?”

 _Free_ Haruka corrects in his mind, nodding along to the coach’s words.

A hand slams down on his shoulder a second later and Haruka almost falls flat on his face. His eyes, wide and cautious, turn to face a man who looks to be older than him.

“Ah, Nanase Haruka! Saw your performance at Nationals last year. I must say, I’m glad you chose to come here.”

Haruka blinks. He hadn’t been expecting that. “...Thanks.”

“Did none of your other teammates choose to come here? Are they going to be our rivals from now on?” he asks, a competitive glint in his eyes. “Especially that backstroke swimmer. Tachibana Makoto?” Haruka’s eyes widen. “He swims the same stroke as me. I’d _love_ to take him on.”

“Makoto isn’t going to swim professionally. He’s going to become an instructor for children,” Haruka explains, and his heart swells at the words because he’s just so _proud_ of Makoto. He recalls seeing him working with the kids in Iwatobi and a smile creeps onto his face. “He’s going to be great at it.”

“Ah, shoot,” the man grumbles. “Well, maybe you can invite him over one time for some friendly racing, eh?”

“Seiji! Lane 5. Haruka! Lane 6. We’re going to do laps,” the coach belts out before Haruka can reply, and he’s grateful for the interruption. The two boys get into place and jump into the pool when the whistle blows.

Immediately, Haruka gives himself to the water, feeling an energy course through him that he hasn’t encountered since he’s left Iwatobi. He completely forgets where he is and what he’s doing this for, choosing to only focus on his swimming.

Though, a nagging in the back of his mind does come up, telling him that this isn’t _exactly_ the same.

His head pops out of the water when he hears his coach.

“Haruka! Extend your arms more.”

“Yes, sir.”

And then he’s ducking back under and continuing his laps, doing them for the next thirty minutes before his coach lets them have a break. Haruka stops against the wall and shakes out his hair, lifting his hand up. He waits for warmth to envelope it, for strength to pull him right out, then blinks the water away from his eyes and looks up when it doesn’t happen.

Right.

Tokyo. 

Haruka pouts, then pushes himself out of the pool.

 

 

Haruka frowns at the lack of food in his kitchen. He’s hungry from practice but he doesn’t feel like eating out. He _especially_ doesn’t feel like going out to buy groceries, but he doesn’t really have a choice.

He reaches into his pockets and takes out his phone, flips it open and presses the first number on his screen before remembering where he is. This isn’t Iwatobi. He can’t just call up Makoto and ask him to go grocery shopping with him. Makoto can’t show up at his door in seconds, wrapped up in a large coat and a long scarf that he intends to put around the both of them.

Makoto lives fifteen minutes away now, fifteen minutes away by _train_. Makoto has classes, homework, things to study, groups to meet with.

A sharp pain resonates in his chest.

He huffs in frustration.

Haruka stuffs his phone in his pocket.

 

 

If there’s anything Haruka’s learned today, it’s that he really misses Makoto. 

He misses Makoto’s voice. He misses Makoto trying to sneak a dozen chocolate bars into the basket. He misses Makoto talking the entire time, filling the silence between them with unneeded but calm words.

Yes, Haruka has always liked silence, is always relaxed when there’s no noise around him, but that’s because he’s always had the reassurance that it was only for a little while. He’s known that, following his silent baths, a _Haru-chan_ would pull him out. He’s known that, after swimming fifty silent laps, a _Good work today, Haru_ would follow soon afterwards.

What’s happening now isn’t exactly silence.

It’s loneliness.

On the way back from grocery shopping, Haruka comes across a small white cat hiding behind a tree. He stops walking when he sees its eyes follow him curiously.

“I wish Makoto were here,” he finds himself saying, crouching down to pet the cat. It backs away a tiny bit but doesn’t run. “He’d love you.”

_“Mreow.”_

Haruka smiles and takes out his phone. If Makoto can’t be here physically, he’s going to make sure he can at least be here in spirit. He opens up his camera and takes a picture, then sends Makoto a message.

[Haruka Nanase]: Look what I found. _{1 Image Attached}_

Right as Haruka’s about to put his phone away, it vibrates.

[Makoto Tachibana]: Aah, so cute!! Give it a kiss for me? (=^・ｪ・^=)

Haruka’s not about to kiss a stray cat, but he doesn’t have the heart to deny Makoto. His solution, then, is to pull up a picture of Makoto on his phone and press it softly against the cat’s face, as if Makoto is the one giving it the kiss.

He feels a little silly doing it.

[Haruka Nanase]: Done.

[Makoto Tachibana]: You’re the best, Haru!

 _I know,_ Haruka thinks, before snapping at least a dozen more pictures and sending them Makoto’s way.

 

 

It’s 10 PM, and Haruka’s already cooked his dinner and eaten it. Now, he lets his head sink back into the tub, and he fully intends on staying there for at least an hour, letting the water relax him. Or maybe he just wants a distraction, but he’s not sure what he wants to be distracted _from_. 

When he hears his phone ring, when he thinks about the fact that it could really only be _one_ person calling him right now, when he thinks about who that one person is, his eyes snap open and he quickly climbs out of the bathtub, wrapping a towel around himself and snatching his phone off of his table.

His sudden movement tires him and he steadies his breath as he presses his phone against his ear. Before he can say any sort of greeting, a soft, warm voice that he feels like he hasn’t heard in ages rings through.

_“Haru?”_

Haruka’s breath catches in his throat and his eyes start to sting. His lips part as Makoto’s voice resonates through him. _Makoto’s voice_.

_“Haru?”_

He swallows, trying to open his throat and get some sort of words out. All that manages to escape is a small puff of breath, but that’s all he needs, because Makoto’s laughing softly on the other end and humming in his ear.

_“I didn’t get to talk to you yesterday. I missed you, Haru.”_

Haruka doesn’t know what to say. His thoughts are traveling at a million miles a second and he can’t seem to latch onto just _one_ of them, can’t seem to articulate _any_ of them, because none of them fully express what he feels and he’s always relied on Makoto to decipher his thoughts, to show him what he himself can’t see, just as he’s done for Makoto.

“...Makoto,” he finally says.

 _“How are classes going? Yesterday was orientation, right?”_ Haruka nods along to Makoto’s words even though he can’t see him and drops his towel, grabbing a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt and slipping them on. _“I had orientation too and it wasn’t that bad. I met a lot of great people in my program. One of them reminds me of Rei, I thought it was the funniest thing.”_

Haruka slips underneath his covers and takes a breath. “Mm.”

_“We don’t have classes tomorrow. They’re letting us explore the school a bit more and they have this party at night for new students. Well, it’s for all students, but they call it a freshman thing…”_

Haruka stays silent, eyes slipping closed as he listens.

_“Is your university doing anything like that, Haru?”_

“Don’t know.”

_“Don’t know? Well you should find out. What are you planning on doing tomorrow?”_

“Nothing.”

 _“Haru…”_ Haruka hears Makoto sigh. _“Well, I’m sure no one would mind if you came here. How about you--?”_

“No,” Haruka immediately responds. “I don’t want to go.”

_“Huh?”_

“I don’t feel like it,” Haruka mumbles, which isn’t a complete lie. He honestly doesn’t feel like bothering Makoto when he’s supposed to be expanding his circle. “I’m too tired.”

 _“...Haru?”_ Makoto asks, and Haruka chokes up because to anyone else, the change in tone wouldn’t even be noticeable. To Haruka, it’s a question from someone who understands him, someone who knows that Haruka only ever uses that excuse if he’s trying to get his mind off of something.

Haruka’s lack of a response answers tells Makoto all he needs to know, and Haruka can hear shuffling coming from Makoto’s end.

_“Well I should probably let you sleep, huh? Goodni--”_

“Wait.” Haruka bites his bottom lip. “I’m not tired yet. We can talk more.”

Laughter rings on the other end, making Haruka smile.

_“Alright, Haru. What’d you eat today? Don’t tell me it’s mackerel again…”_

Haruka exhales roughly in amusement.

They talk for hours.

 

 

[Makoto Tachibana]: Haru, come over today. 

[Haruka Nanase]: Why?

[Makoto Tachibana]: No reason.

[Haruka Nanase]: What time?

[Makoto Tachibana]: Five?

And this conversation, taking place earlier in the day, is how Haruka finds himself standing in front of Makoto’s door. He knocks on it and instantly hears Makoto’s voice from the other side.

“Ah, go ahead and open the door, Haru!”

Haruka raises a brow but turns the knob anyway, stepping inside and meeting darkness. His hand feels around for a light switch and when he flips it on and blinks a few times to adjust to the change, he sees blankets and pillows spread out across the floor of Makoto’s apartment.

Next to them, Makoto stands tall and bright, smile stretching across his entire face.

Haruka freezes and stares, because even though it’s only been a few days, he misses Makoto, misses him so incredibly much. His smile, his hair, his body, his smile, his voice, his _smile_...

“What’s this?” Haruka asks, closing the door behind him. “Don’t you have a bed?”

“Of course I do. You help me put it up,” Makoto reminds him. The corners of Haruka’s lips twitch into a small smile as he remembers that… _interesting_ day. “This is for something different.”

“Enlighten me.”

“Well, I was thinking we could make a pillow fort.”

“...Makoto.”

“Hear me out! We used to do it all the time, so I thought it’d be fun to do it again.”

Haruka shakes his head but he can’t help the excitement he feels at the suggestion. More than making a fort, he’s making it with _Makoto_. “Alright. Let’s do it,” he agrees, shrugging off his jacket and shoes.

Makoto rocks excitedly on the heels of his feet, and Haruka wastes no time in getting started.

“I want the roof to be even,” Haruka says, lining up two chairs a few meters apart and draping a blanket over the tops of them.

“But wouldn’t it look cooler if the roof was like this?” Makoto suggests, grabbing a smaller chair and switching it out with one of the ones Haruka had put. “It kind of caves in, see?”

“No.”

“Haru!”

Haruka flicks Makoto on the forehead and his lip twitches when Makoto pouts. “How about we add another chair and do that in the back of the fort?”

Makoto hums in thought. “You think that’ll work?”

“Of course it will,” Haruka huffs, because who does Makoto think he’s talking to? This is Nanase Haruka, pillow fort _extraordinaire._ And to prove his point, he follows through with his plan, expertly setting up the fort the way he envisions it.

“Go inside and see if you fit,” Haruka says once he’s done.

Makoto gets down on his knees and crawls in, and Haruka peeks his head inside to look. Makoto sits comfortably in the fort, the roof of it just barely above Makoto’s head, and he smiles. “You really are the best with pillow forts, Haru-chan."

Haruka’s bottom lip juts out but he doesn’t say anything.

“Maybe we should bring some snacks in here when we’re done. We can stay here the whole night,” Makoto suggests.

Haruka’s heart flutters and he nods a little too quickly. He’s excited to stay here the night, to get somewhat back into their old routine. “Okay. But we need to finish first. It shouldn’t take that long.”

 

 

It does, in fact, take that long. 

But only because they start goofing around, and Haruka doesn’t mind because he’s having so much fun.

When they decide to add another blanket to the roof of the fort to block out light, Haruka gives a countdown for the both of them to raise the blanket and drape it over the top. Makoto thinks the countdown ends at _1_ , when Haruka intends for him to say _Go_ first, so the entire thing flops.

Makoto laughs and they try it again, perfectly synchronized this time, but when the blanket’s thrown into the air and floats back down, Makoto snaps it and a gust of air hits Haruka. For the next five minutes, the two of them vigorously snap the blanket back and forth, and Makoto even throws in a few peek-a-boos when Haruka’s face isn’t covered.

Then, when they decide to put another blanket around the edge of the fort for the reason, Haruka instructs Makoto to go around the side. Instead, Makoto walks in circles around Haruka until he’s completely wrapped up, and Haruka grunts as he tries to get out.

“Makoto, I can’t move,” he whines, trying to hop his way out of the makeshift cage.

“Would you like to get out, Haru?”

“ _Please.”_

“Okay,” Makoto says, then grabs the end of the blanket and tugs. Haruka spins around and around, feeling like he’s about to topple any second now, before he’s suddenly embraced by large arms and Makoto’s placing a kiss on his lips.

Haruka melts into it, hands grabbing Makoto’s biceps. He lets out a small, breathy moan when Makoto’s hands move to the small of his back, then lets out a slightly louder ones when they trail lower and squeeze. Then Makoto’s backing off and Haruka’s eyes flutter open, cheeks tinted pink, and Makoto smiles.

“We need to finish the fort.”

Haruka scowls, or at least he tries to, but he’s sure the effect isn’t as strong as he wants it to be because Makoto’s looking at him like he’s the cutest thing in the world.

Makoto steps behind Haruka and wraps his arms around his waist. His head drops onto Haruka’s shoulder and he hums. Haruka relaxes against him, pushing his back against Makoto’s chest and letting his head fall back.

Makoto smiles at him and places a kiss on his nose.

Instead of accepting it graciously, Haruka decides to get back at his teasing boyfriend. Haruka discreetly grabs a pillow and flings his arm back, hitting Makoto right in the face with it. He smirks when he hears a muffled _“Haru!”_.

“So mean,” Makoto whines. Haruka turns around to apologize and kiss him better, but his eyes widen when he sees a familiar glint in Makoto’s eyes, one that promises that Haruka won’t get away so easily. “You’re going to pay for that, Haru-chan.”

Haruka gulps. “Makoto, I don’t want you to ruin our fort.”

“I won’t.”

Haruka presses on. “It’ll collapse if you hit it.”

“I know.”

Haruka licks his lips. “It took us a long time, Makoto.”

“I understand.”

“Alright,” Haruka says, and Makoto nods along to his words, looking absolutely amused, looking like he’s having the time of his life. “I just wanted to make sure we were clear on this.”

“Crystal.”

“Okay.” Haruka side glances at the opening to the fort. “Okay.”

“Okay.”

Haruka holds Makoto’s gaze for a second more, and then he’s lunging at the entrance and scrambling to get inside and into safety. It almost works, except Makoto’s grabbing his feet right before he reaches his goal and pulling him back. When Haruka kicks his feet in an attempt to get loose, Makoto begins tickling the bottom of his foot.

“W-Wait, Makoto, that’s - _haah_ \- cheating! Makoto!” Haruka wheezes, then yelps when Makoto doesn’t let up. “Makoto!”

Makoto doesn’t stop, and Haruka watches himself be dragged away from the fort. In a last ditch effort to break free, he snatches a pillow from the roof of their fort and turns his body, smacking Makoto on the arm with it.

“Haru! I thought we were clear that we wouldn’t destroy the fort!”

Haruka scrambles to his feet and holds the pillow up defensively. “All’s fair in love and war.”

Makoto shakes his head and snaps his own pillow between his hands. “You’re gonna get it now, Haru.”

“Come at me, _big boy.”_

And Makoto does, taking a large step towards Haru with his pillow ready to throw. Haruka anticipates this and quickly ducks behind the fort before Makoto can do anything, senses on edge. He slowly cranes his head to peek around the edge of their creation and frowns when he doesn’t see Makoto.

“You do this every time, Haru.”

Haruka yelps when Makoto jumps behind the fort. He quickly gets to his feet and runs around the side, crawling into the fort and aiming his pillow at the entrance. All goes quiet and Haruka’s _terrified_ , his heart’s beating at five times the speed it’s supposed to. But he’s having so much fun, he feels like every worry he’s ever had is just a drop of water in an ocean.

He feels home.

Thankfully for Haru, the side blanket they’ve set up to block out light isn’t exactly efficient, because he can see Makoto’s shadow as he tiptoes around the fort. Haruka takes advantage of knowing his location to quietly crawl back out and sneak up behind Makoto.

He almost laughs at the focus etched into Makoto’s face, and he definitely laughs when he tugs at Makoto’s leg and Makoto yelps, almost falling forward. Haruka decides to give him that extra push and slams his pillow against his knee, watching as Makoto topples onto the back of their fort.

“Your clumsiness is destroying the place,” Haruka scolds teasingly.

“Haru…”

Haruka shifts at Makoto’s change in tone. He feels stupid for not escaping earlier because the next second, Makoto’s trapping him where he is, legs on either side of his body. Haruka flushes at the position. Makoto smirks down at him.

“You’re not being fair, Haru,” he murmurs.

“Y-Yeah.”

“It’s not fun when you don’t play fair.”

 _It’s very fun_ , Haruka almost says, but his breathing’s too shaky so he settles with, “I’m sorry.”

“No you’re not,” Makoto murmurs, leaning down until his face is inches from Haruka’s. Haruka’s chest rises and falls quickly as Makoto’s crotch presses down on his, and his entire body feels hot, and--

And then a pillow smacks him right in the face.

When Makoto pulls the pillow back, Haruka’s eyes are wide and he looks completely dazed. Makoto covers his mouth and giggles.

It takes a moment for Haruka to return to his sense, but when he does, he scrambles to get out from underneath Makoto and escape. Makoto isn’t having any of that, fingers coming down on his stomach again.

“Makoto!” Haruka shrieks when the taller boy starts tickling him mercilessly. He holds up his pillow, weakly trying to get some sort of hit on Makoto. Makoto isn’t having trouble dodging any of them.

Haruka bites his bottom lip and quickly sits up. He pecks Makoto on the lips and uses the distraction to wiggle himself free.

“Haru!” he hears, but he doesn’t turn around, instead crawling back into the fort and taking shelter. Makoto seems to have no regard for the fort’s safety anymore because he clambers in right after Haruka. He yelps and kicks his legs, and the rumbling the two of them get into shakes the foundation.

The entire fort collapses onto the both of them and all screams abruptly stop. The only thing to be heard now are heavy breaths, expertly filling the void around them.

Haruka sees a shift in the blanket around him and then he sees Makoto, pushing away the fabric separating them. Makoto shimmies his way next to Haruka and smiles at him, and they both stare into each other’s eyes, panting.

Then Makoto laughs, and Haruka laughs, and they laugh so hard that tears stream down their faces. Makoto cups Haruka’s cheek with his hand and uses his thumb to swipe the hair away from his eyes, then traces his thumb along Haruka’s quivering lips.

“This was fun,” he says.

“This was a _disaster_ ,” Haruka snorts. “Our entire fort is destroyed.”

“But you had fun, right?”

“I did,” Haruka gives him, eyes softening. “Thank you, Makoto.”

“You don’t need to thank me,” Makoto says, but Haruka shoots him a look that screams _I do_ , because he knows why Makoto had called him over here in the first place. He knows that Makoto, somehow, could sense his stress through their phone call and could sense it through their texts. He doesn't know how, but it's probably something like  _"You take a half second pause before you speak when you're upset."_

Probably.

This entire evening does nothing but remind Haruka that this change is okay, that just because they don’t live steps away from each other anymore, that just because they don’t walk to school together anymore, doesn’t mean things are any different between them.

Makoto has renewed and shown Haruka a sense of familiarity today that he’s been craving since they left Iwatobi, and now, a strength fills him. He’s sure he can wake up happy every day now and take this new future by storm, because Makoto’s at his side even when he’s not.

“You know,” Makoto begins, breaking Haruka from his thoughts. “I can’t wait until we study together and you give me a kiss for every question I get right.”

Haruka pouts. “Who said I’d do that?”

Makoto mirrors his expression. “You mean you won’t?”

Haruka shakes his head and Makoto sighs sadly, feigning heartbreak. Haruka rolls on top of him and rests his chin on Makoto’s chest. “I’ll kiss you for every question you get right and every question you get wrong.”

“Eh? But that won’t encourage me at all!”

Haruka places a small kiss on Makoto’s cheek in response. “That’s for when you get it wrong,” he explains, then moves his lips to Makoto’s ear. “Wanna see the one for when you get it right?”

“I, uh,” Makoto stammers, face coloring red. “I can wait. I like surprises.”

“Good boy.” Haruka places a kiss on Makoto’s neck, and then another one when Makoto’s hands wrap around him.

The both of them settle underneath their fort, and it takes Haruka a moment to remember they’re not in Iwatobi.

Right.

Tokyo.

He can get used to Tokyo.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm in a huge writing mood this week so apologies for the spam of fics... Anyway shout out to Anne for breaking my heart yesterday with stressed Haru. I hate you.


End file.
